


Falling

by unlockthelore



Series: Lost and Found [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Feelings Realization, Gen, Introspection, Post-Canon, Regret, Short & Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:14:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26881261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unlockthelore/pseuds/unlockthelore
Summary: There are moments where Naminé descends into her thoughts and someone has to pull her out. This time, the person was unexpected.
Relationships: Naminé & Riku Replica (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: Lost and Found [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1961203
Kudos: 3





	Falling

**Falling**

Namine plucked wax pieces from the cream-colored pages and wiped her fingers clean on a white handkerchief set on the tray beside her. Beneath a blue-green tinged sky, only faintly beginning to deepen its hue, she propped her sketchbook against her thighs and buried her toes in the soft, cool soil. The world was fairly quiet save for the occasional wind current combing through the clearing and whistling through the corridors. Naminé glanced up at the tree’s rustling leaves, a few snapping free of their boughs and falling in a flurry of reds and oranges.

She nudged the tray aside then reached out to catch three of the leaves. One was a bright, almost blazing shade of red. The other, an orangish-brown, almost reminding her of the sky at twilight. While the last was a dusky brown, almost deep enough to be black. She smiled slightly, setting the leaves down beside a take-out box with the elegant golden symbol of the Twilight Town Bistro, and a half-eaten bowl of steaming ratatouille soup, Little Chef’s recommendation. 

She made a mental note to thank Aeleus for delivering it to her, if the silent guardsman would remain in her presence for longer than a greeting or farewell. 

_It seems that's all they have time for as of late,_ she thought. _Forgiveness is terribly lonely._

Naminé sighed and spun the crayon between her fingertips, its tip blunted and smooth against the paper. A pigeon’s warbling croon shook from the tree’s rustling leaves and Namine tipped her head back to listen to its melody, grateful for something other than the clicking of keys and whirring machinery that seemed to travel within the walls of the Castle. 

Fresh air filled every breath and she was both surprised, and not, to feel the frantic thumping in her chest when she forgot to breathe. Her crayon rolled down her current page - the faceless voyeur etched on its surface being the only one to see her grip the front of her dress. Palm pressed to her chest to feel her heart’s steady cadence. 

It was odd. This small beating was what she sought after for so long. Yet now that it was hers, she neglected it so often that it could put her at risk. 

Soft fabric hooked beneath her nails and strained when she tugged at it. As if her fingers could pierce through cloth and skin to grasp what was rightfully hers, what had been _given_ to her, unjustly. Streams of warm air rolled over her lip in defeat as she leant back against the tree trunk and picked up her crayon once again.

The gardens were her solace but her own mind was a prison in itself.

“Thinking hard?” A voice called out to her, amusement hummed in its teasing lilt. 

Namine straightened up almost immediately and craned her neck to look around the tree’s girth. She squeaked when a dark shadow emerged before her, dropped low in a crouch. 

“ _Woah_ ,” the shadow waved its hands frantically as she brandished one of her crayons. Yellow eyes widened in perfect circles gleaning from the featureless face too smooth, too round, too _familiar_ to be frightening and less off-putting. “Sorry, sorry… didn’t mean to scare you. Just getting used to this.”

Naminé adjusted her grip on the crayon. It would be difficult to throw it if she didn’t have the proper hold after all. The perfect circles of the shadow’s eyes begin to shift and droop downwards into an almost saddened expression. “Come on, Naminé,” it said and took a step closer, hands held out and reaching toward the light. Shadows curled around sharpened fingertips softened with a violet glow and began to peel away like a second skin, revealing blunted nails and tanned skin.

Naminé doesn’t answer, clutching her sketchbook to her chest, her heart pounding against the pages. She refused to tear her eyes away from the stranger as they approached and the sunlight steadily engulfed them. Out from the tree’s shade, fragments of shadow peeled off his skin and drifted lazily, disappearing on a breeze rustling through the gardens turning the rolling green grassland into ocean waves. Her eyes widened. “… You…”

There before her, a young man stood with a face that was both familiar and not. Shaggy silver-grey hair tied up in the back in a loose ponytail with several locks sticking out of the holder, spilled around his ears and framed a rounded face. A bandana, deep ocean and sky blue forming an ombre its folds, kept his uneven fringe out of his eyes though a long braid woven with yellow and pink thalassa shells swung as he shook his head.

“I guess my heart decided to take another form,” he said, the end of the braid brushing shy of his jaw. A wry smile curved pinked lips and showed a silver of white teeth. “So, what do you think?”

Naminé was frozen in place. His blue-green eyes shone with a brightness that kept her paralyzed. Steadily sparkling with a subtle mischief, but harboring depths Naminé wasn’t sure she knew the path to anymore. His eyes narrowed as the silence dragged on and the green began to outweigh the blue.

Slowly, Naminé shook her head to clear her thoughts and lowered the crayon, “Did you just wake up…?” she asked, glancing down at his white t-shirt emblazoned with the symbol she’d seen on several of the books in the castle. He seemed to notice where her eyes wandered and looked as well, his nose wrinkled and lip curled.

He didn’t seem thrilled at the connection and shook his head, the thalassa shell swinging about like a needle of an uncalibrated compass. Naminé wasn’t sure where to lead her attention and decided his face was best. “Yeah,” he mumbled, tossing a glance over his shoulder toward the emptied archway leading from the verdant green of the garden to the castle’s wide and dim corridors. “Guess they’ll be sounding the alarm soon.”

He didn’t seem too worried, seemingly relaxing as he strolled past her with his arms swinging lightly at his sides. Naminé never let him out of her sight for long. She pressed her back against the tree and watched him.

“I took a little while to do some snooping around then I decided that I wanted to come and see you,” he announced and Naminé’s heart skipped a beat as he murmured, “On my own terms, this time.”

Mottles of light fell through the cracks in the tree’s leaves, floating around him like stars. With his back turned to her, and the sun’s approach, his shadow cast westward and she half-expected to see someone else in its shape. Someone taller and broader - not the lean muscled boy before her.

Perhaps that was her mistake. Looking for someone else in him when he was standing there in front of him.

“Riku, I’m…”

“The name isn’t Riku,” he interjected sharply. Naminé winced reflexively, closing her eyes for a second. When nothing came, she opened them and saw his head turned slightly showing the downward curve of his lips. “Sorry to disappoint, but he’s him and I’m… me…”

Naminé gasped and leant forward, her sketchbook pressing against her chest. “I’m not disappointed,” she blurted out, and he turned to look at her, brows raised. Her face felt hot and she sank back against the tree, rubbing her fingers against the book’s binding.

“Are you?” She asked, her voice soft and quiet, the question dissolving into the sketchbook’s pages and the slightly smeared drawing. “I’m not exactly who you saw in your memories…”

A part of her wanted to say what they both knew. That those memories weren’t true. Everything about him from before _wasn’t_ true, and the person in front of her right now was a stranger. Perhaps made up of some of the same parts but even then she didn’t know. Her fingers flexed around the rings, cold metal digging into her skin. If she drew him as he was now, would he even have the same connections as he did before or were there none to be found?

“No, you’re not…” He sighed, hesitating at the refusal and Naminé’s heart plummeted. Lips quivered and hidden behind the top of the sketchbook, twisting into a rueful smile that tugged tears to the corners of her eyes.

She thought, _Of course he would say tha—_

“Because that Naminé is long gone.”

Naminé’s breath hitched and she looked up, eyes wide. Instead of the slight frown, he wore a small smile. Head tipped back and eyes focused on the sky, more blue than green.

“She’s free now,” he said, his smile widened, hands curling around nothing as they tightened into fists. “And so am I. So, whatdy’a say?” He lowered his chin, closing his eyes for a moment then opening them, his hand extended to her.

A breeze swept through the clearing and rustled the pages of her sketchbook, whipping his hair back from his forehead, as the sun bathed them in light while casting their shadows.

“Wanna start over…” His eyes crinkled at the corners and she could hear the name on his lips before it was even spoken, but her heart soared all the same. “Naminé.”

**Author's Note:**

> Well! I'd been struggling with finishing this for awhile and I'm proud to say that it's finally done!
> 
> This was one of the fics that I've been wanting to write after KH-III but then I forgot about it. So, better late than never. What I love the most about this is that I finally got a read on what I wanted Repliku to look like in his own body. Although I may explore it more later, the relationship between him and Naminé also came into question in this. I wasn't sure what would happen between them but I knew it wouldn't be all rainbows. Especially considering the nature of his being and her role in it, and the guilt and anger that may be on both sides. But for now, we have this fluffy ambiguous ending and the hope for better days on the horizon.
> 
> As always, you can find me on Tapas, Tumblr, instagram, Pillowfort, and Twitter at **unlockthelore**! 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading.


End file.
